Vehicles such as automobiles utilize lighting systems for illuminating the road, and for communication with other drivers. For example, turn signals are used for informing other drivers of an intent to make a turn. More importantly, brake lights are used for informing other drivers of an imminent slowing or stopping. Conventional brake lights includes a light bulb disposed in a housing at the rear of a vehicle, wherein the brake light is activated when the brake pedal is depressed, and deactivated when the brake pedal is released.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,584 issued to Gustanfson discloses a display which is in the form of a sheet of transparent material having imprinted on one side thereof the upper portion of a head of an animal and having on the other side a layer of a non-permanent adhesive. The display is mounted on the rear window of an automobile, the automobile being of the type which includes a brake light on the rear window. The display is mounted on the window such that the brake light is where the nose of the animal would be located. In use, when the brakes are applied, the brake light is turned on giving the appearance that the nose intermittently lights up. In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,213,419 issued to T. W. Stults, discloses a safety beacon stop light which may be radially installed upon a rod on top of an automobile and which may be electrically connected to the conventional stop light lamps in the rear of the vehicle, and operable in unison with the stop lights when the automobile brake is depressed. However, neither apparatus provides a means of communicating application of the vehicle brakes by a moving indicator.
Other conventional means of communicating vehicle motion are attaching roller blades or figurines to vehicles, where flow of air past the blades of figurines attached to a moving vehicle causes them to rotate. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,146 issued to O'Hara discloses an air speed indicator for use in combination with a vehicle having an exterior surface. The indicator comprises a shaft mounted to the vehicle by a means of a mounting member such that the shaft is angled away from the direction of relative airflow. A propeller is mounted on the shaft through a tapered opening that enables the propeller to process on the shaft and thereby change the axis of rotation with consequent changes in the direction of movement of the propeller on the shaft. However, the propeller system is only activated by air flow past a moving vehicle.
There is, therefore, a need for a prominent and motion based means of communicating driver operation of a vehicle's brakes.